Please note for "purchase on account" and "direct debit"

Purchase on account and direct debit - the risk is getting bigger and bigger!

Our customers have known us for years, or rather me and my employee, who sometimes ends up on the hotline.

You can trust us, we make everything possible, and if it makes our customers happy, we don't shy away from a sale where we pay 2 euros extra, e.g. when parcels are lost through the fault of a third party, but the purchase already paid for is urgently expected.
So pretty much the opposite of most large shops, customers at the front and profit expectations at the back, not the other way round!

It annoys us all the more when our trust is abused.

For example, when someone orders an expensive product that normally only people with a high age, high sickness rate and low income order.
Then they send a nice email saying it's not such a rush - and then turn out to be a nameless fraudster a week later, goods gone, money gone too...

This fits in with the trend, online trade has risen sharply in the Corona year, as has the number of internet fraudsters - we are now facing an unprecedented wave of cybercrime!
Even we, as a small shop, were not found by such people in the past!

Our high quality for years has now also proved its worth for us, we are doing very well as a shop and we no longer have to accept every purchase request.

That's why I've now decided that we need to monitor the payment methods of purchase on account and direct debit more rigorously.
Initially I was still hesitant, as our reputation with customers, including new customers, is very important to me, but with every day that we receive a fraud attempt, I become more convinced.

The danger with purchase on account?

That's obvious. Customer buys, parcel is gone, after 3 weeks we realise the money hasn't arrived either, in 90% of cases that's it!

The risk with direct debit?

The customer can get his money back up to 8 weeks after receipt of the goods, even if there is no reason for it, even if we object to the bank or Stripe!

What is the best way to combat internet fraudsters?

We now rely much more on credit checks.

Everyone knows Schufa, but they are very expensive. Online shops prefer to use ConCheck, it's cheaper there, a query costs less than one euro for us.
Incidentally, everyone does this, even shops that don't mention it...

As the shop owner, you then get a document back with a school grade. And some personal details.
The school grades 1.1 to 2.9 can sometimes be awarded unfairly, e.g. because a trustworthy citizen lives in the "wrong" part of Cologne. Up to 2.9, it is only about "statistical probability", not about unpaid bills in the past, for example.
From a score of 3.0, there is always at least one negative characteristic, e.g. a past debt collection procedure due to an unpaid invoice.

Our experience to date: 95% of sales with a score above 3 go wrong, from a score of 2.6 there is a much longer wait for payment. Strikingly, although this is only supposed to be "statistics", there are almost never problems below 2.5.

ConCheck could also indicate that the credit rating is OK, the address is also well known, but the name itself is not known. We used to think nothing of it. Today, after a criminal case involving identity theft and 500 euros in damages, we know that these could be fraudsters who order parcels to genuine and good addresses, but to non-existent people...

So from now on, it will be more difficult to get a dispatch confirmation from us if you select purchase on account or direct debit as a non-regular customer.

The new rules:

• We will only accept purchases on account with a credit rating of up to 2.5. The customer will then receive an invoice from us, with which they can pay either by prepayment or Paypal (link in the invoice).
• Purchase on account is only possible if you leave your telephone number and date of birth.
• The billing and delivery addresses must be identical. Purchase on account and parcel to another person, another country or another city are mutually exclusive.
• The name must be noted as "known" in the credit check, delivery on account to unverified names is excluded even with a credit rating of 1.0.
• Purchase on account to a "guest account" is undesirable for us and can lead to rejection. Honest customers have nothing to hide. Please create a customer account.

We may also reject direct debit purchases that are dubious.
Dubious means a new customer with a strange composition of goods, high purchase amounts, deficiencies in the credit check.
In this case, our Stripe account looks superficially as if everything went well. But experience shows that this is not necessarily the case.
At the latest when it says "Customer has disputed payment" after 4 weeks and "Case lost" after 5 weeks.
So in case of doubt, the same rules apply as above.

With us, every customer, without exception, has the opportunity to make an honest purchase. So nobody is excluded!

Technically, we could set everything up so that the customer doesn't even notice. In other words, the shop itself checks the relevant criteria and informs the customer in a second without us or the customer even noticing.

But our shop is ultra-modern, but unfortunately also highly complex, and finding the correct settings is very difficult.
Tinkering with the background settings has often led to errors where, for example, no customer has been able to place an order. I do it all myself, because if we employed an expensive IT department, we would never be able to offer our unrivalled low prices!
Unfortunately, we have to do this manually for every single customer, sometimes with feedback hours after the purchase.
It will certainly take until the end of 2022 before everything runs fully automatically in milliseconds.

We hope for your understanding.
And we are looking forward to the time from now on when we can be happy again, in daily contact, also by email or telephone, that we have the nicest customers in the world - and no longer have to waste a thought on the fraudsters!

Stay healthy, your Mario Müller

Addendum 16.11.2021:

A call from the Worms police this morning. The perpetrators of the fraud case have been found! Plus a circle of suspects with 60 people!
So this must be a ring with hundreds of fraudulent purchases.
My guilty conscience that I have to annoy my customers from time to time is now off the table.
Of course it's annoying when you can't have a larger parcel accepted by a neighbour, but have to turn up at DHL after work with your ID card.

But something like this can also be extremely helpful for our customers in an emergency!

Example:
A naturopath orders a large quantity of dietary supplements for his clients. A criminal realises that he has many customers who also buy expensive products.
So, at the typical DHL delivery time, put a front man in front of the door, "Yes, hello, I'm Mr H.P., you can give it to me straight away" or "My neighbour has already told me, he had to go to an appointment, I'll take it!"
The deliverer will normally do this without any problems, i.e. without an ID check. Parcel gone, we're not liable, big trouble!
For medium-priced parcels, we may also choose "personal delivery" for cost reasons, which only costs 0.99 euros instead of 2.99 euros for us. But in this case, a forged recipient authorisation would be enough for the deliverer, IdentCheck is safe for both sides!